The essential elements of this new business process address the business market commonly referred to as “wireless technology industry” that today solely markets and sells cellular telephones and other wireless data devices to the business and consumer markets. This industry is broken down into four tiers as described below and as shown in FIG. 1.
Hardware Manufacturers
Hardware manufacturers are entities that design, develop, build and sell cellular telephones and wireless PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) intended for business and consumer use. At this time there is a rapid technology convergence occurring so that already many cell phone models offer an integrated digital camera and in some cases even PDA functionality as a full featured single device that can be a phone, camera and PDA—all in one. Hardware manufacturers typically receive their sole compensation through sale of the hardware to Carriers. An example hardware manufactures include Motorola, Nokia, Sony, Sanyo, Siemens, Palm, and a host of others.
Carriers
Carriers, sometimes also known as network service providers, build, operate and maintain the wireless network on which the above mentioned cellular telephones and wireless PDAs operate. The carrier networks typically operate with very specific communication protocols such as GSM, TDMA, CDMA and GRPS. Carriers dictate to the hardware manufacturers the operational standards, supported and/or desired functionality and network communication protocols to which they must adhere to in order for their hardware to be certified to operate on a given carrier's network. Carriers sell their solutions to their customers by typically bundling a hardware device (cell phone and/or wireless PDA) along with predetermined network usage parameters (such as minutes per month, data storage space and amount of permissible data transmission per month, etc.) into a fixed period of time contract that often calls for a multi-year commitment by the end-user customer. A common requirement is a steep cancellation fee in the event of early contract termination by the end-user customer. Approximately 60% to 70% of carrier sales are driven through direct sales to end-user customers and 30% to 40% through indirect NAR reseller channels—known as Master Agents and Sub Agents, as described in more detail below. Carriers generate most of their revenues by selling the use of their networks for voice and data, often giving the hardware away or otherwise substantially subsidizing its cost via rebates in order to induce a customer to sign multi-year contractual commitments. Selected examples of Carriers include AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, Cingular, T-Mobile, NexTel, and a host of others.
Master Agents
Master Agents are entities that act as a distribution channel for Carriers by delivering the Carrier's products and services to Sub Agents who in turn sell the products and services directly to the end-user customer. Master Agents usually have an exclusive geographical territory granted by Carriers in return for which they have the responsibility to provision, distribute and support the hardware that is sold to Sub Agents. In many instances a given Master Agent holds distribution rights for one or more Carriers within some or all of their geographic coverage territories. Master Agents receive compensation in three basic ways:                a. make a profit on the sale of each piece of hardware to Sub Agents;        b. receive hardware rebate dollars from the Carriers, wherein the Master Agent often has sole discretion to share any or some portion of the rebate with the Sub Agent;        c. receive a recurring residual payment, typically equal to 10% of the actual monthly Carrier usage bill charged to the end-user customer, a portion of which may be shared with the Sub Agent at the sole discretion of the Master Agent        
Sub Agents
Sub Agents resell Carrier products and services distributed to them by Master Agents (or in some instances directly from the Carrier itself) to their end-user customer base comprised of business customers and consumers. Sub Agents receive compensation in four basic ways:                a. customer acquisition fee—essentially a one-time commission paid by the Carrier to the Sub Agent for signing up a customer to a fixed term contract to use the Carrier's products and services;        b. make a profit on the sale of each piece of hardware that is sold;        c. in certain cases a sub agent may receive a portion of the recurring monthly usage bill charged by the Carrier typically at the sole discretion of the Master Agent through which the Sub Agent sold the particular transaction; and        d. sales of miscellaneous low margin one-time sale hardware accessories, such as hands free head phones, extended life batteries, additional battery chargers as well as other items.        
From the Master Agent to the Sub Agent, compensation is essentially based upon reselling Carrier products and services, where most of the revenues are one-time payments, and at the Master Agent level an ongoing share of the Carrier's monthly billing to the end-user customer. Particularly, in the case of Sub Agents, they often do not participate in any ongoing residual monthly Carrier billing revenue stream, and instead rely principally upon one-time sales from the sale of Carrier products and services and sales of accessories. Typically, end-user customers of Sub Agents are notoriously fickle and disloyal and will easily shift future purchases to other Sub Agents. Thus, a Sub Agent can never rely on repeat business. Furthermore, Sub Agents face significant fixed infrastructure costs such as the rent for a store (or office) from where Carrier products and services are marketed and sold in their local geographic area, clerical personnel, and sales personnel, together with all the other fixed costs associated with running and managing a small business. In general, it's a very competitive business that usually requires multiple store locations to achieve any meaningful revenue and profitability levels.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that a need exists for a new business method that allows Master Agents and Sub Agents to market associated wireless services to customers, where the wireless services are not necessarily provided by the Carriers. Another need exists for a business method in which Master Agents and Sub Agents can establish revenue streams from the sales of web-based wireless services to customers of the wireless devices sold by the Master Agents or the Sub Agents